E-Learning, a form of ICT, as a basic right
E- Learning can be regarded upon as a specific form of learning using Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Handicapped persons may benefit from ICT in many ways. Above all, they may be ICT users and producers of ICT services like any other. There are strong legal arguments to make ICT products also available to persons with special needs. Handicapped persons have an equal right to ICT based information, services and provisions. This so called citizenship paradigm (in which handicapped persons are regarded upon as citizens with equal right and duties) is more and more seen as a basic right embedded in formal laws (e.g. anti discrimination legislation) in many European countries as well as in EU legislation. Handicapped persons are an important part of today’s society. Some 10 % of all inhabitants of the EU, 38 million citizens, suffer from some form of impairment (1). E.g. in the United States 6,8 % of the population (17,4 million people) have a mobility impairment (2).
ICT use to compensate for mobility impairments
There are not only formal and legal reasons to give persons with mobility impairments full access to ICT provisions and services. ICT is a form of handling information in an almost non- physical way. Due to its nature it is able to bridge distance and time without need for physical replacements not demanding mobility of its users. ICT services and provisions are extremely suitable to compensate for the handicaps of mobility impaired persons. ICT will contribute to the social integration and participation in many domains of the lives of mobility impaired persons, including the participation in education and employment.
Exclusion from ICT and e-Learning